The Fall semester of college is growing ever so close and soon 2010 High School Grads will be moving into the dorms for their first year of college. Planning and good communication with your roommates are the keys to a smooth transition into your dorm room (or first apartment) and will help you start the semester off on the right foot. more...
The Fall semester of college is growing ever so close and soon 2010
High School Grads will be moving into the dorms for their first year of
college. Planning and good communication with your roommates are the
keys to a smooth transition into your dorm room (or first apartment)
and will help you start the semester off on the right foot.
In the past deciding what to pack was a difficult task – what do I need to bring, what is my roommate bringing, how big is my room? With our Dorm Checklist and some great software from our friends at Design Your Dorm this process just got a whole lot easier.
Design Your Dorm is a web-based tool that allows college students to
customize their dorm room interiors, coordinate their dorm room
furniture and appliances with their roommate(s) and purchase their
favorite room selections online. Students can create their dorm room
layout using Design Your Dorm’s software that includes exact dorm and
apartment dimensions for hundreds of college campuses from all over the
country.
Like the
Dorm Registry
at Organize.com, students who purchase items on the Design Your Dorm
site can have their items shipped right to their dorm; instead of
loading everything in the car or moving truck and transporting it all
to campus. That means less stress at move-in time and more time for
meeting new people and experiencing all the great things college life
has to offer.
Happy dorm room designing!
-Mrs. O
Moving into the dorms can be a nightmare, no matter what year you are in college. There is always chaos with countless students doing the same thing you are trying to do at the same time. A sea of cars parked outside the dorm coupled with parents and students unloading boxes of dorm “must-haves”— what if you didn’t have to deal with all the madness? What if everything you wanted for your dorm could be delivered right to your room? Design Your Dorm makes this possible. more...
Moving into the dorms can be a nightmare, no matter what year you are
in college. There is always chaos with countless students doing the
same thing you are trying to do at the same time. A sea of cars parked
outside the dorm coupled with parents and students unloading boxes of
dorm “must-haves”—
what if you didn’t have to deal with all the madness? What if
everything you wanted for your dorm could be delivered right to your
room? Design Your Dorm makes this possible.
The brainchild of University Arizona graduates, Taylor Robinson and Bryce Widelitz, Design Your Dorm (DYD) is a virtual 3-D dorm room design website
where students can arrange the layout of their room from an inventory
of more than 140 college dorm rooms and select the desired furnishings
all from the comfort of home. Trips to the local department store on
move-in day become a thing of the past. DYD not only provides users
with a virtual image of the dorm room, you can also see how your room
will look laid out with the desired purchases. Best of all, you don’t
have to leave the site to purchase what you need—sheets, pillows,
lamps, even futons! Everything's available from the DesignYourDorm
Amazon.com store and gets shipped right to your dorm room!
Inspiration for this business grew from the founders' college
move-in experiences. They found process to lack organization and be
laden with unnecessary complications during a time meant to be exciting
and special. By not knowing the layout or what to expect about their
dorm room, they were left to make design decisions the day they moved
in. According to Robinson, “This meant getting a rental car to make
multiple trips to and from the local big box stores at the busiest time
of the year and spending our last moments of quality time with our
parents setting up our room.” DesignYourDorm has been helping college
students avoid this type scenario since June of 2008.
According to the founders, DYD is the only site of its kind in that no other business offers both room design features and
product purchasing options. “It is advantageous to use the site
instead of waiting arrival on campus so students can know what will fit
in their room. They can split room purchases with roommates, and avoid
the chaotic last minute shopping that takes place during move-in time,”
explains Robinson. The services are free and users are only charged
when they purchase items from the DYD store.
In addition to their design-click-order suite of services, students
can connect with each other using Facebook, Twitter, and AIM.
“Student’s can even chat with all their friends from various social
networking sites directly on DYD, which is a great way for students to
get to know their roommates and share their DYD experience with their
friends,” explains Robinson.
To learn more about to how use DesignYourDorm or to find out how your college might benefit , please join us for #CampusChat on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010, at 9 p.m., Eastern, on Twitter, when a representative from DYD (@DesignYourDorm) will be our expert guest.
***
Chelsea Merget, a junior at Boston University is
pursuing a degree in Communications
with a minor in Psychology. She is spending the summer as a public
relations intern with Smart College Visit, Inc. For other articles about
college life, visit our Heading to College
series.
Email this
The Design Your Dorm site allows students to view an exact 3-D replica of their dorm, to drag and drop real furniture and decor into place, and then purchase these items, which are shipped directly to their dorms. The site also allows roommates to coordinate through social media tools, including in-site Facebook chat, sharing the design and eliminating the risk of buying two of one thing in the limited space. more...
The
Design Your Dorm
site allows students to view an exact 3-D replica of their dorm, to
drag and drop real furniture and decor into place, and then purchase
these items, which are shipped directly to their dorms. The site also
allows roommates to coordinate through social media tools, including
in-site Facebook chat, sharing the design and eliminating the risk of
buying two of one thing in the limited space. Entering their second
back-to-school season,
Design Your Dorm
is running with last year’s success and looking to expand. Co-founder
and University of Arizona 2008 graduate, Taylor Robinson, says, “We had
such a positive response from students and parents last year, but the
biggest complaint was that we didn’t have everyone’s schools. We worked
tirelessly all year growing our database, and are proud to have the
exact measurements from over 180 Universities.”
Check out their blog too at http://www.designyourdormblog.com/
If DYD happens to have the university you're attending in its fairly big database, you'll get a pre-sized floor plan to work with, and you can drag, drop, and stack all manner of stuff into it to see what fits. more...
Design Your Dorm
-
Price/Availability: Free to use as a web-based design tool
-
Strengths: If DyD happens to have the university
you're attending in its fairly big database, you'll get a pre-sized
floor plan to work with, and you can drag, drop, and stack all manner
of stuff into it to see what fits.
-
Weaknesses: If your college isn't in the
pre-loaded list, it's on you to know the size and shape. If you don't
like commercial come-ons, you're not going to like the sponsored items
you can add to your room.
-
Best suited for: College kids, obviously, who want to know the realities of fitting their life into half of a shared dormitory space. (Original post)
Onlinedegree.net is a great site that offers information on over 450 online degree programs. The blog section offers an extensive list of 100 awesome Blog Posts on Dorm Design. Design Your Dorm is on the list, so check it out!
more...
Design Your Dorm Room in 3D
If you’re heading off to college this fall you might want to check out a handy new service called Design Your Dorm before moving all your junk onto campus.
The website has designed 3D virtual models of lots of common college dorm room layouts. So you can make sure you’ll have room for your complete Star Wars action figurine collection long before you move in.
To help figure out where everything will go in your room, DesignYourDorm has several hundred 3D models of common items like TV sets, beds, desks and storage containers. Just drag and drop an item into your room to see where it goes. If you’re living in a double, like more freshmen, the site even has a collaboration feature that lets you design your room in collaboration with your new roommate.
Once you’ve got your dorm room designed with all the stuff you want, DesignYourDorm lets you buy it all. Each of the items you can place in your room is a real product at Amazon.com and the sites gives you a virtual shopping cart as you move through the design process. Just click a button and have everything delivered to your college so it’s there when you arrive.
As the site says, “move-in day just got a whole lot easier!
Design Your Dorm made the list for the "Top 50 College Info Websites!" Check out the full list and discover some valuable resources for the college bound student! more...
41. DesignYourDorm.com–A free online, interactive resource for designing and organizing your college-bound teen’s dorm room.
It’s something of a rite of passage for college freshmen. You arrive at your new dorm room and, after a few moments of excitement, come to the unsettling conclusion that you have either A) brought so much junk that your room will soon resemble a rummage sale or B) brought so little that even Steve Jobs would be uncomfortable in your spartan abode. Not exactly the best way to kick off your college career. more...
It’s
something of a rite of passage for college freshmen. You arrive at your
new dorm room and, after a few moments of excitement, come to the
unsettling conclusion that you have either A) brought so much junk that
your room will soon resemble a rummage sale or B) brought so little
that even
Steve Jobs
would be uncomfortable in your spartan abode. Not exactly the best way to kick off your college career.
A new startup called DesignYourDorm
might just hold the answer. The site has built 3D virtual models of
common dorm room layouts, allowing new students to figure out what
they’ll have room for long before they ever set foot in their dorms. To
help figure out the exact room configuration, DesignYourDorm currently
has a few hundred 3D models of various common dorm room items,
including electronics like TV sets, furniture like beds and desks, and
storage containers that you can freely drag and drop into the room.
There’s also a selection of bedding, posters, and plenty of things that
you might find at Bed Bath & Beyond. And because most people wind
up rooming with someone, the site has a collaboration feature that lets
two roommates edit their room at the same time.
Of course, virtual decorating is one thing, but that still leaves students with the task of actually going out and buying
each item they place. But DesignYourDorm has that figured out too: each
of the items you can place in your room is a real product taken from
Amazon.com, and the site builds a virtual shopping cart as you go. When
you’re done, you can have everything shipped to your university so it’s
there the day you arrive. DesignYourDorm generates revenue through
Amazon’s affiliate program, but it eventually hopes to work with
big-box stores instead.
But the system comes with a few snags. While the site does a good
job with its generic floor plans, they only get you so far — you still
won’t know how large each cabinet and desk will be, the height of the
beds, placement of any windows, and so on.
Fortunately, the startup is hoping to team up with universities across the country to get detailed floor plans for every single room at a given school. It’s currently running a pilot test
with the University of Pennsylvania, where it has taken measurements
for all room layouts in one of the school’s housing buildings. As part
of the partnership, Penn will be promoting the site to incoming
students as they get their room assignments, and will in turn get a
small cut of the revenue generated by any sales. Interesting sidenote:
the startup has a mirrored domain at CollegeRoomCreator.com
for its university partnerships, because schools apparently don’t like
referring to their housing facilities as “dorms”. Seriously.
All in all, the site seems to have a solid idea and a large market.
That said, it still needs to work on its execution. The site’s UI is
clunky at times, and sometimes the 3D objects don’t behave as you’d
expect (I’m allowed to place a small storage container on top of a bed
but not beneath it, even though it explicitly says that it’s meant to
fit underneath beds). Likewise, many of the site’s products don’t yet
have 3D models, which means you can buy them but can’t place them into
the room at all. Co-founder Taylor Robinson says that the company is
working on fixing all of these issues (it recently hired a new
developer), and that we can expect improvements soon.
If you're heading off to college this year and living on campus, web site DesignYourDorm aims to alleviate the decorating guessing that goes on when moving into a dorm. Just supply your school, residence hall, and room number during registration, and if you're lucky you'll get a 3D model of your room. The site doesn't have replicas of every room in every university in their database, but they allow users to add floor plans, meaning that in time it'll only get better. more...
If you're heading off to college this year and living on campus, web
site DesignYourDorm aims to alleviate the decorating guessing that goes
on when moving into a dorm.
Just supply your school,
residence hall, and room number during registration, and if you're
lucky you'll get a 3D model of your room. The site doesn't have
replicas of every room in every university in their database, but they
allow users to add floor plans, meaning that in time it'll only get
better. (If you don't want to add your floor plan, you can also just
select a generic floor plan.)
From there you start the designing process by selecting items from a
pre-determined list. Using the 3D designer, you're able to drag and
drop (most items) as well as manipulate items to fit in the room
layout. As you choose items to add to your room, they are also added
into your cart for purchase, should you wish to do so (items can be
shipped directly to the school).
If you're looking for inspiration, DesignYourDorm also offers
pre-designed "Cool Rooms" which you can select and modify. Or you can
purchase the entire room to get the exact look shown.
Aiming to make your move-in day go as smoothly as possibly, DesignYourDorm also offers a handy printable checklist.
Design Your Dorm aims to alleviate those "fresh out of Mom-and-Dad's house" woes with software that helps first-time interior decorators figure out a good look for their maiden interiors. Every college kid knows it's not easy to figure out whether a futon will fit in that tiny room or how much wall space will be left for that last Band of Horses poster. more...
By now, most college freshmen are getting to
know their new roommates; their moms' tears have dried; and the best
years of their lives have just begun.
Great! Now what can be done about this dorm room, which looks the inside of a cinder-block factory?
Design Your Dorm aims
to alleviate those "fresh out of Mom-and-Dad's house" woes with
software that helps first-time interior decorators figure out a good
look for their maiden interiors. Every college kid knows it's not easy
to figure out whether a futon will fit in that tiny room or how much
wall space will be left for that last Band of Horses poster.
Students can fire up the Design Your Dorm website, enter in a school
name, dormitory building and room number, and the software will pull up
a virtual room if it's in the system. (If you attend an unsupported
school, you can enter the room's dimensions.) Then, drop in a couch,
some storage containers and pick out a few posters, and you've got a
pretty snazzy virtual room.
Jenny Jonsson, 18, from Bellevue, Wash., who just started at USC, was impressed with ...
... one feature in particular. "Not only can you drag and drop into
it, but you can put stuff under things," she said, referring to the
ability to purchase organizers and place them under beds.
The website makes its money by selling real versions of the virtual
merchandise. The furniture is delivered to the dorm, and students can
then arrange it with their virtual room as a blueprint. Nice work, dude!
The direct delivery service was especially appealing to Amanda
Brooks, 18, who flew across the country to attend Marymount Manhattan
College. "My mom really wants me to buy stuff from it," she said.
"Shopping in New York, lugging around comforters and everything, would
be such a hassle."
A key feature, says Design Your Dorm co-founders Bryce Widelitz and Taylor Robinson,
is the ability to collaborate with a roommate. Roomies routinely chat
on an external instant messenger (yes, sometimes even while in the same
room) to drop items into their virtual room and veto ugly rugs. "Eew,
ya rite!"
One potential pitfall with Widelitz and Robinson's start-up company
is that after the fall semester move-in spike, business really slows
down. They're hoping parents latch onto their side business -- custom
gift baskets to be delivered to their kids.
-- Mark Milian
Design Your Own Dorm Room
Go here and pick the layout that matches your new dorm room (if you
know the layout), and then you can click and drag dorm gear into a 3-D
model. You can even collaborate on line with your roommate. And if you
like, you can order stuff directly from this Web site to be delivered
to your dorm.
Planning for college can be tough, especially when it comes to buying gear for your dorm room. But the new Web site DesignYourDorm.com can help! The site, which was created by two recent college grads, allows you to see an online version of your college's dorm room. Various features let you virtually drag furniture (desks, chairs, beds) and electronics (iPod speakers, alarm clocks, lamps, etc.) to figure out the best and most effective use of your space. You'll save tons of frustration (and ener more...
Planning for college can be tough, especially when it comes to buying gear for your dorm room. But the new Web site
DesignYourDorm.com can help! The site, which was created by two recent college grads,
allows you to see an onli
ne version of your college's dorm room.
Various features let you virtually drag furniture (desks, chairs, beds)
and electronics (iPod speakers, alarm clocks, lamps, etc.) to figure
out the best and most effective use of your space. You'll save tons of
frustration (and energy!) on move-in day, when everyone else is
rearranging their rooms for hours.
DesignYourDorm.com also lets you collaborate with your future roomie (or roomies). By
arranging things ahead of time, you can split up who's buying what. One of you can be in charge of buying the fridge, while the
other takes care of the microwave. You can even buy some of those items right on
DesignYourDorm.com - including funky blankets, comfy chairs, bookcases, even shower shoes - and it can all be shipped directly to your school!
17 Tip: Keep your door propped open during move-in week. It's
super-welcoming, and people will be much more likely to stop by and
introduce themselves!
The CyberGuy takes the campus by storm with co-ed viral videos, digital design tips and what might be America's best roommate, all in the name of helping the college student in your life find the perfect dorm. more...
The CyberGuy takes the campus by storm with co-ed viral videos, digital design tips and what might be America's best roommate, all in the name of helping the college student in your life find the perfect dorm. The clear favorite is DesignYourDorm.com, a web-based 3-D interior design tool that allows college students to customize their dorm room interiors and purchase their favorite room selections online. Best of all, this service is FREE for students and universities. Check out the video and see what these USC students have to say!
Tired of the generic dorm room that you just moved into days ago? Transform it into your own space with help from DesignYourDorm.com.
Students can register on the site with the name of their school and what residence hall they live in. Then they can check out a 3-D rendering of their space, choosing from models of double rooms, suites and singles or typing in specific dimensions if a model isn't available. From there, students can virtually rearrange generic college furniture by clicking and more...
Tired of the generic dorm room that you just moved into days ago? Transform it into your own space with help from DesignYourDorm.com.
Students can register on the site with the name of their school and
what residence hall they live in. Then they can check out a 3-D
rendering of their space, choosing from models of double rooms, suites
and singles or typing in specific dimensions if a model isn't
available. From there, students can virtually rearrange generic college
furniture by clicking and dragging. They can also virtually add
products to the room, buy them and have them delivered from the Web
site's store, which is affiliated with Amazon.com. Products, from
flat-screen TVs to laundry bags, are organized into categories to make
searching easy.
DesignYourDorm.com launched in June and took former University of
Arizona students Taylor Robinson and Bryce Widelitz a year to create.
Moving to start the freshman year "is a really horrible process," says
Robinson, who is now based in his home city of Los Angeles. "There's so
much guesswork in moving into the dorm," not to mention lugging
furniture into the space or renting a car to return items. With the
site's renderings, students will have a better idea of what's going to
fit, alleviating some stress and preventing some aching backs.
The site also includes some pre-designed "cool rooms" for inspiration.
And Robinson plans to add functions to facilitate roommate
collaboration when designing shared spaces and dividing costs, as well
as some personalized information about the residence halls and student
neighbors.
Kathleen Hom
Sheets, towels, and shower caddies are standard for campus living. But a little creativity can equip students for the dorm—and beyond. For everything else on the list (and more), there’s DesignYourDorm.com , where students can view a 3-D replica of a dorm room from their college; buy books, lighting, and decor; and have it shipped directly to school. more...
Dorm Life Must-Haves
Sheets, towels, and shower caddies are standard for campus living. But a little creativity can
equip students for the dorm—and beyond.
• American Innovative’s Neverlate Alarm Clock (pictured) fits every class schedule
with wake-up alerts for each day of the week. It also has a nap timer if the goal is a few winks
between lectures.
• Students can rest easy knowing that music, photos, and documents are safe with SimpleTech’s Signature Mini Portable External Hard Drive. In addition to
its sleek, Ferrari-inspired design, it has up to 500 GB of storage and online backup for added
protection.
• The Dirt Devil Kone Cordless Hand Vacuum is also stylish and
compact—and perfect for cleaning up crumbs from all those late-night study snacks.
• For everything else on the list (and more), there’s
DesignYourDorm.com , where students can view a 3-D replica of a dorm room from their college; buy books,
lighting, and decor; and have it shipped directly to school.
DVDs:Popcorn Time
Make new friends in your dorm: Throw a “college movie night.”
Wonder Boys is an amusing coming-of-age tale with Tobey Maguire (before he was a big star) and Michael
Douglas as a professor having a midlife crisis.
Good Will Hunting , starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, is the story of a troubled working-class math whiz in
South Boston and the people who love him. Will Ferrell is at his nutty best as an overgrown frat
boy in
Old School . And don’t forget the king of all wild-’n’-crazy college films,
Animal House , starring the incomparable funnyman John Belushi.
CDs:School of (Indie) Rock
Impress new friends with hip indie music they won’t hear on Top 40. The French pop band
Phoenix’s summery CD
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is full of catchy lyrics and up-tempo guitar rhythms. For parties, try
LP , a dance album by Discovery featuring electronic grooves and a cover of The Jackson 5’s “I
Want You Back.” Or check out La Roux, the self-titled release by a breakout British act
with a heavy ’80s influence.
Contributors: Allison Takeda, Jonathan Witherspoon, and Joanna
Prisco
New Penn students in the Class of 2013 living in Hill College House will be able to view their rooms before even setting foot on campus. This year Penn has partnered with a new site, www.designyourdorm.com, that enables students to see 3-D renderings of their room so they can plan them. On the site students can choose dorm products, place them in the room, and purchase them. They can even coordinate with future roommates. more...
Making the green's list
New Penn students in the Class of 2013 living in Hill College House
will be able to view their rooms before even setting foot on campus.
This year Penn has partnered with a new site,
www.designyourdorm.com,
that enables students to see 3-D renderings of their room so they can
plan them. On the site students can choose dorm products, place them in
the room, and purchase them. They can even coordinate with future
roommates.
"It's like one-stop shopping," said Penn Housing spokeswoman Barbara Lea-Kruger.
Design Your Dorm, which also promotes going green, will help prevent
roommates from purchasing the same things or bringing too much. The
site just introduced an "Eco-Friendly" category with products students
can order. Spokeswoman Courtney Kephart says items are constantly being
added to the category.
The site will also ship products straight to the university, cutting
the cost of shipping twice and the waste of energy and shipping
materials.
Pitt doesn't know much about the new freshman program, because he
will soon be leaving Penn's campus to begin graduate studies at Oxford
University in England. But he likes the idea.
"I think respecting the environment is important not only because
it's simply the right thing to do, but also because we have to work if
we are to preserve the quality of life we enjoy now," Pitt said. "I
think our generation and that of our children will really be the first
people to suffer from widespread and serious environmental degradation."
While bare walls and confined spaces may make dorm rooms feel more like jail cells than designer suites, a company with local ties is giving students some of the same design tools used by high-end interior designers. Design Your Dorm LLC, an online company founded this year by two 2008 University of Arizona graduates, gives students a chance to see, lay out and accessorize their dorm rooms before they ever set foot in them. more...
While bare walls and confined spaces may make dorm rooms feel more
like jail cells than designer suites, a company with local ties is
giving students some of the same design tools used by high-end interior
designers. Design Your Dorm LLC, an online company founded this year by two
2008 University of Arizona graduates, gives students a chance to see,
lay out and accessorize their dorm rooms before they ever set foot in
them.
"There are Web sites that are home-planning tools and design
tools, and there are also Web sites that are e-commerce sites that sell
dorm-related and college-related (products), but there is no Web site
that puts the two together," said Taylor Robinson, one of the Los
Angeles-based company's managing partners.
When students log on to www. DesignYourDorm.com, they're asked to
register and select their university and their individual room, said
Bryce Widelitz, the company's other managing partner.
They can then rearrange the furniture in their virtual room and
drag such items as posters and small appliances into the 3-D design
program to see how things will fit together. Users can then buy the items that they placed in their rooms and
have them shipped through Amazon.com, said Widelitz, who graduated from
the UA with a degree in finance.
Charles Silverman, a freshman majoring in pre-business at the UA,
said he used the Web site last summer to get a better understanding of
what his two-person room in Coronado Residence Hall, 822 E. Fifth St.,
would look like. "I was basically able to see my dorm before I even got here,"
Silverman said. "It gave me more of an idea how small my room was going
to be."
Silverman said he also used the site to buy an Xbox 360 video game
console, several posters and an alarm clock, after he placed them in
his virtual room to see how they would look.
The company currently has partnerships — which give students
access to exact virtual replicas of their future residences — with
three universities: Georgia College and State University; California
State University-Los Angeles; and the University of Pennsylvania, which
is in a trial program and gives students full access to only one
residence hall on campus, Widelitz said.
For those planning to attend schools that don't have a
partnership, the company's the Web site will let the students view and
design common floor plans. The more than 25 universities in this
category include the UA, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona
University, he said.
The company working to turn several of these affiliated schools
into partner schools, Widelitz said. He recently made a presentation
about the company to representatives of the UA Residence Life
department. Meanwhile, students soon will be able to manually input the
dimensions of their own rooms into the system.
Barbara Lea-Kruger, director of communications for business
services at the University of Pennsylvania, said her school plans to
expand its one-dormitory pilot program next fall.
"When you look at a flat floor plan, it is kind of like, 'What
does this mean?' This gives them a little better sense of what their
room will look like," Lea-Kruger said. "(Students) can also connect
with roommates, and they can both talk about what they're going to
bring."
Between the site's launch in June and the end of September, the
company had logged about 50,000 registrations, Widelitz said. About 80
percent of those who registered began to design individual floor plans.
The company does not currently have a way of tracking the
percentage of people who bought things in the virtual store, Widelitz
said.
Tamara Scott-Anderson, owner of Contents Interiors, 3401 E. Fort
Lowell Road, said the key to dorm-room design is to maximize storage,
functionality and versatility. "There are some people, those detail kind of people, that want to
know ahead of time how things are going to fill up a space," she said,
noting that a 3-D design tool gives them that opportunity.
While Design Your Dorm did well between June and September,
Widelitz said the company is now focusing on selling ready-made care
packages as a way to drum up sales during the slow months, when very
few people are moving into residence halls. "We are looking for ways and always exploring ways to make it
nonseasonal," he said. "But mostly, a lot of our traffic comes in those
summer months when it is kind of crunch time for going to school."
THE GIZMO: Gearing up for school.
In my day, back-to-school prep focused on buying spiral notebooks and maybe a bookbag. Today, the options are a lot more high-tech and interesting.
DESIGN YOUR DORM: The new Web site Design Your Dorm (www.designyourdorm.com) invites freshmen to view their dorm room in a 3-D format. Try shifting items around. Then drag in, install (and maybe buy from Amazon.com) virtual items. more...
Go high-tech when you go back to class
THE GIZMO: Gearing up for school.
In my day, back-to-school prep focused on buying spiral notebooks
and maybe a bookbag. Today, the options are a lot more high-tech and
interesting.
DESIGN YOUR DORM: The new Web site Design Your Dorm (www.designyourdorm.com)
invites freshmen to view their dorm room in a 3-D format. Try shifting
items around. Then drag in, install (and maybe buy from Amazon.com)
virtual items.
Design Your Dorm's first official partner school, the University of
Pennsylvania, also hooks up roommates to share decorating notions
online.
Site developers Bryce Widelitz and Taylor Robinson have also
floor-planned freshman dorms at Penn State, Rutgers New Brunswick,
Purdue, the University of Toledo, the University of Arizona , Arizona
State, Northern Arizona University and a mess of California schools.
As the holidays approach, it seems buying a gift for your child, brother, sister, niece, cousin (and the list goes on) can be quite the dreadful task. Especially those off at college... DYD care packs are perfectly packaged assortments of goodies that satisfy even the most finicky college student! more...
Design Your Dorm--Care Packs
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Perfectly Pampered: Spa Basket and the Tailgate Party Time Gift Tin
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Description: As
the holidays approach, it seems buying a gift for your child, brother,
sister, niece, cousin (and the list goes on) can be quite the dreadful
task. Especially those off at college...
DYD care packs are perfectly packaged assortments of goodies that
satisfy even the most finicky college student. Impress your son with a
tailgater’s dream, a tin brimming with beers, games, and snacks. For
the girly girl, send over a spa in a box, complete with terry cloth
slippers, bath confetti, and lotions. There really is something for
everyone. This holiday season, don’t let anyone dear to you have a blue
holiday, show them just how much you care with one of these packs from
DYD!
Visit the Website
Price: $30.00 to $130.00
Design Your Dorm is a new service that allows users to virtually customize their future dorm rooms before they arrive on campus. Using the sites 3-D design tool you can view a layout of your actual dorm room and drag and drop in 3-D objects from an Amazon shopping cart. Design Your Dorm offers exact dimensions for every dorm room (by room number) at a handful of schools including USC, UPenn, UCLA and U of A, and general floor plans at almost every other school in the nation. more...
Sponsored Post: Back to School 2.0
For all you gadget lovers who are fortunate enough to be heading
back to college this August, here is a high-tech way to design a
high-tech dorm room.
Design Your Dorm is a
new service that allows users to virtually customize their future dorm
rooms before they arrive on campus. Using the sites 3-D design tool you
can view a layout of your actual dorm room and drag and drop in 3-D
objects from an Amazon shopping cart. Design Your Dorm
offers exact dimensions for every dorm room (by room number) at a
handful of schools including USC, UPenn, UCLA and U of A, and general
floor plans at almost every other school in the nation.
Above is a sample of a dorm room I designed…You may want to design
something a little more practical. Then again if you are as gadget
crazy as I am, you may not.
The beginning of your freshman year of college is an exciting time — you meet tons of new people, get introduced to the college lifestyle, and begin planning the four fun-filled years ahead of you.But while picking out furniture, decorations, and other items for your dorm room can be interesting, it’s also pretty time-consuming and stressful, especially when you have to worry about coordinating with your roommates, figuring out what will fit into your new room, and finding a way to package and s more...
The beginning of your freshman year of college
is an exciting time — you meet tons of new people, get introduced to
the college lifestyle, and begin planning the four fun-filled years
ahead of you.
But while picking out furniture, decorations, and other items for
your dorm room can be interesting, it’s also pretty time-consuming and
stressful, especially when you have to worry about coordinating with
your roommates, figuring out what will fit into your new room, and
finding a way to package and ship it to your university. When you’re a
freshman and have no idea what to expect from your new life away at
school, these are daunting tasks.
Fortunately, there’s an awesome new website out there called
Design Your Dorm that makes the process significantly easier, and college students are going to love it for that.
On the site, after selecting your university and residence hall, you’re given a 3D
model of your future living quarters, and, from there, you can move
around furniture, add blankets, chairs, microwaves, lamps, and pretty
much everything you could ever need for a dorm room.
You can even order all of the items you select for your virtual room
and ship them straight to your school. Plus, it let’s you collaborate
with your roommate on your room design so you don’t end up with
clashing bedspreads or duplicate items.
And the best part about this site? It’s totally free!
Developed by two recent college graduates,
Bryce Widelitz and
Taylor Robinson,
Design Your Dorm is an easy to use,
one-stop-shop for anything a college student may need. From flat screens to shower shoes, and everything in between! I wish this site had been around when I was a freshman — it’s a
brilliant idea and will be a super useful tool for college students.
Definitely check it out if you’re in college!
Design Your Dorm Founders Bryce Widelitz and Taylor Robinson
August is the beginning of the end for most people, but for coeds heading to college it's time to get in gear for another (or a first) year in the dorm. Just because the school of your choice has pre-selected bland desks, beds and wardrobes for you ahead of time doesn't mean you can't add a splash of your own personality to the mix. And now there's a tool that help you do it before you move in. DesignYourDorm.com allows users to select their dorm rooms (using a drop box, you choose your universi more...
Design a dorm room in 3-D
August is the beginning of the end for most people, but for coeds
heading to college it's time to get in gear for another (or a first)
year in the dorm. Just because the school of your choice has
pre-selected bland desks, beds and wardrobes for you ahead of time
doesn't mean you can't add a splash of your own personality to the mix.
And now there's a tool that help you do it before you move in. DesignYourDorm.com allows
users to select their dorm rooms (using a drop box, you choose your
university and residence hall - though many school's specific
dimensions still haven't been added to the database) and choose from a
wide variety of products that they can actually place in the 3-D model
of their room to see how things will fit (and look).
I put together a double room complete with matching nightstands,
paper lantern lamps, a flatscreen tv, framed art and a black shag rug
to tie it all together. Each time you add an item to the room it
automatically gets listed in your shopping cart, so that once your room
is complete you can purchase all and have the order shipped directly to
your dorm. (No more U-Hauls, mom and dad!) You can even choose to
add/purchase portable gaming centers, Nintendo Wii and kitchen and bath
products. The selection is pretty complete.
The site also has a feature that allows roommates to share their
saved rooms and select their own gear to fill it. Because it truly
would be a shame to have clashing color schemes, wouldn't it?
The site still has a little ways to go (for starters, it really
needs to enhance its database of schools and residence halls for more
accurate dimensions), but as a concept, it's pretty genius; an
all-in-one design/compare/shop/ship tool so that all you have to worry
about upon arrival to campus is how you're going to fit all of your
clothes in that tiny closet. Good luck with that.
Are you an incoming college freshman worried about sharing space with new, unknown, and potentially disastrous roommates? Well, luckily for you, a new site called DesignYourDorm allows college newbies to virtually plan their first-year space.
The site has 3-D models of average dorm rooms and allows users to drag and drop furniture to get an idea of how much space they'll have and how much stuff they should bring. Trying to move your whole life into an 8-by-12-foot room you have to share may more...
Are you an incoming college freshman worried about sharing space
with new, unknown, and potentially disastrous roommates? Well, luckily
for you, a new site called DesignYourDorm allows college newbies to virtually plan their first-year space.
The
site has 3-D models of average dorm rooms and allows users to drag and
drop furniture to get an idea of how much space they'll have and how
much stuff they should bring. Trying to move your whole life into an
8-by-12-foot room you have to share may not be the best idea. The site
also allows two users to be in one virtual room at the same time, thus
enabling future roommates to collaborate.
The site also has some real-world use, as it has teamed up with Amazon
to provide real products to place in the room, automatically compiling
a shopping list. Once a user is satisfied with her layouts, she can
purchase items from that shopping list and have them delivered on
move-in day.
According to TechCrunch,
DesignYourDorm plans to team up with universities in order to feature
actual floor plans. (The site is currently testing this strategy with
the University of Pennsylvania.) Less time at Bed Bath and Beyond and
more time comforting mom as her baby leaves the nest. [From: TechCrunch]
DYD has tons of actual dorm room plans from colleges around the country already in their database. That means you'll get an idea of the square footage, furniture, and space you'll be dealing with. You can then add furniture, decor, accessories, organization features, and much more. Plus, you can purchase all those things right there at DYD. It's definitely worth checking out and really fun to play around with if you're like me and enjoy creating all possible furniture arrangement possibilities. more...
As
move-in day looms nearer and nearer for college students around the
country, it's time to really kick into gear when it comes to your dorm.
So I thought I'd share
DesignYourDorm.com with you. As their website states:
"DesignYourDorm.com is a web-based 3-D interior design tool that allows
college students to customize their dorm room interiors and purchase
their favorite room selections online."
Registration
is free. Once you're registered, you can select your dorm room from a
menu. DYD has tons of actual dorm room plans from colleges around the
country already in their database. That means you'll get an idea of the
square footage, furniture, and space you'll be dealing with. You can
then add furniture, decor, accessories, organization features, and much
more. Plus, you can purchase all those things right there at DYD. It's
definitely worth checking out and really fun to play around with if
you're like me and enjoy creating all possible furniture arrangement
possibilities. ;)
Check out some of these example plans that I found on the
DesignYourDorm Flickr page.
Pretty cool, eh?
Click here to venture on over and try it out.
Oh, and don't be intimidated! DYD is a really easy site to navigate and use. You'll figure it out in no time. :)
Planning for college can be tough, especially when it comes to buying gear for your dorm room. But the new Web site DesignYourDorm.com can help! The site, which was created by two recent college grads, allows you to see an online version of your college's dorm room. Various features let you virtually drag furniute (desks, chairs, beds) and electronics (iPod speakers, alarm clocks, lamps, etc.) to figure out the best and most effective use of your space. You'll save tons of frustration! more...
Plan for College...the Right Way!
Planning
for college can be tough, especially when it comes to buying gear for
your dorm room. But the new Web site DesignYourDorm.com can help! The
site, which was created by two recent college grads, allows you to see
an online version of your college's dorm room. Various features let you
virtually drag furniute (desks, chairs, beds) and electronics (iPod
speakers, alarm clocks, lamps, etc.) to figure out the best and most
effective use of your space. You'll save tons of frustration (and
energy!) on move-in day, when everyone else is rearranging their rooms
for hours.
DesignYourDorm.com also lets you collaborate with your future roomie
(or roomies). By arranging things ahead of time, you can split up who's
buying what. One of you can be in charge of buying the fridge, while
the other takes care of the microwave. You can even buy some of those
items right on DesignYourDorm.com - including funky blankets, comfy
chairs, bookcases, even shower shoes - and it can all be shipped
directly to your school!
Tip: Keep your door propped open during move-in week. It's
super-welcoming, and people will be much more likely to stop by and
introduce themselves!
I just found a great site that I wish I would have known about last year when I was staying in the dorms. This site is called Design Your Dorm and it allows you to create an online 3-D dorm room which gives you a great idea of what to bring to college and what you should leave at home. You can also have your roommate join which makes it very easy to collaborate especially if you don’t already know them. Best of all, it is free. more...
College Life: Design Your Dorm
I
just found a great site that I wish I would have known about last year
when I was staying in the dorms. This site is called Design Your Dorm
and it allows you to create an online 3-D dorm room which gives you a
great idea of what to bring to college and what you should leave at
home. You can also have your roommate join which makes it very easy to
collaborate especially if you don’t already know them. Best of all, it
is free. When you register, you will select your university and
residence hall from a list. You can then pick from several different
types of dorm rooms. If you are going to be a student at Florida State
University and will be staying in the suite style dorms (or hope to),
make sure you choose the double with bathroom setup. I have stayed in
both Wildwood and Gilchrist halls and it is the exact same setup.
Another great thing about this site is that on the right side of the
screen, it has a shopping list that helps you keep track of everything
you have put into the room and how much it will cost. This site really
helps take some of the hassle out of moving!
As a virtual 3D dorm room designer, Design Your Dorm is a tool that helps incoming freshman create their future living space and allows them to collaborate with their roommates online. With the simple click of a mouse, college students can drag-and-drop dorm items and accessories into their future room and purchase these selections directly from the DYD website, without ever having to leave the house. more...
Design Your Dorm: Has The Internet Replaced
Your Last Days As A Parent?
As a virtual 3D dorm room
designer, Design Your Dorm is a tool that helps incoming freshman
create their future living space and allows them to collaborate with
their roommates online. With the simple click of a mouse, college
students can drag-and-drop dorm items and accessories into their future
room and purchase these selections directly from the DYD website,
without ever having to leave the house.
Los
Angeles, CA June 1, 2009 – Forget those stressful trips to Bed Bath
& Beyond spent arguing over the color of a shower caddy. Design
Your Dorm makes the transition into dorm life simple and fun. The
website allows incoming college freshman to select and purchase
potential dorm items and virtually place them in their future dorm room
right from their computers. Mom and Dad, your college bound kid
doesn’t need your help shopping for college anymore, they just need the
credit card number.
Design
Your Dorm, created by two recent college graduates Bryce Widelitz and
Taylor Robinson, spawned from their frustrations with the freshman
move-in process. There are so many things students need to buy before
they move away from home; even the little things like an extra set of
XL sheets are paramount to a successful move. With Design Your Dorm,
students can use the catalog of dorm items available to them to
determine what they will need for their room. As if things couldn’t
get any easier, Design Your Dorm will even have these items shipped
directly to your residence hall so they are ready for you upon your
arrival.
Parents,
are you scared? It may seem as though the Internet has reduced your
parent-child relationship to a series of numbers on a piece of
plastic. Stop being so pessimistic. Capitalize on this opportunity to
use the Internet as a mediator between you and your college bound
baby. Realize that Design Your Dorm wasn’t created solely to help
incoming college students; it was also made with you in mind. The
simplistic nature of this site reduces the tension between you and your
child and your differing decorating tastes. Just sit back, relax and
let your teen create the dorm of their dreams, just be sure they don’t
forget to buy towels.
If
you’re a mother who has forever been divided from her son by his love
of sports and your penchant for shopping, use the opportunity of
sending him away to college to connect by helping him decide what he
will need to survive in his dorm room. Don’t let your lack of
technological knowledge scare you away from using Design Your Dorm,
give him control of the mouse while you inform him about the importance
of a desk organizer.
Whatever
the relationship with your child may be, Design Your Dorm makes those
last ditch efforts at creating memories effortless, fun, and more
interactive than ever. U-Hauls and store exchanges are a thing of the
past when it comes to outfitting a dorm room. So, sit down and merely
drag-and-drop your way to move-in day with Design Your Dorm.
For information and contact, visit http://www.designyourdorm.com
Beginning a year at college can be stressful enough in its own right without the added hassle of scrambling to buy myriad dorm room supplies and decorations before classes begin. Target and other superstores may benefit from that rush, but a new site aims to help students plan and shop for their living quarters ahead of time with the help of some 3-D modelling. more...
3-D Tool Helps Students Decorate Dorm Rooms
Beginning a year at college can be stressful enough in its own right
without the added hassle of scrambling to buy myriad dorm room supplies
and decorations before classes begin. Target and other superstores may
benefit from that rush, but a new site aims to help students plan and
shop for their living quarters ahead of time with the help of some 3-D
modelling.
DesignYourDorm is a
web-based 3-D interior design tool that allows college students to
customize their dorm room interiors and purchase what they need online.
When students register with the Los Angeles-based site, they begin by
indicating the university they'll be attending. Ultimately, that will
generate a selection of floor plans with exact room dimensions used in
the corresponding dorms, and DesignYourDorm is currently pilot-testing
those capabilities with the University of Pennsylvania,
according to TechCrunch.
For universities that haven't signed on, however, students are given a
series of generic room layouts. Either way, they next choose the type
of room they'll have—single, double or triple, in various
configurations—and then begin moving furniture and accessories around.
Gaps can be filled in from items available from DesignYourDorm's online
store—furniture, accessories, appliances and more—and many of them can
be virtually dragged and dropped into the room to see how they will
look. Perhaps best of all, roommates can collaborate virtually over the
summer using the site to plan and coordinate their purchases ahead of
time. Once they've decided what they'll need to buy, they can order the
items and have them shipped directly to their college—order fulfillment
is handled by Amazon, which passes revenue on to DesignYourDorm through
its affiliate program.
Similar in many ways to DesignMyRoom—which
sadly got repurposed since we covered it last year—DesignYourDorm is
free for both students and participating universities, which will
ultimately get a cut of sales generated through the site, according to
TechCrunch. Given that there are more than 18 million college students in the US alone, could be a good one to bring to campuses in your neck of the postsecondary woods!
Website: www.designyourdorm.com
Contact: www.designyourdorm.com/contact.aspx
Spotted by: Roberta Steinberg
We all know back-to-school madness is upon us. Do you remember when you were moving back to your dorm, back into another beige cave of oak furniture and boring berber carpet? And then there's the shopping: searching everywhere for extra-long twin bedding, storage cubes and halogen lamps (dorm room staples!). But one company is trying to change all of that.
DesignYourDorm.com is a web-based 3-D interior design tool for parents and college students to customize their dorm room interiors. They c more...
Design Your Dorm Online
It's back to school time! With this tool you can design your dorm room, then buy it all at once. Photo: Design Your Dorm
We all know back-to-school madness is upon us. Do you
remember when you were moving back to your dorm, back into another
beige cave of oak furniture and boring berber carpet? And then there's
the shopping: searching everywhere for extra-long twin bedding, storage
cubes and halogen lamps (dorm room staples!). But one company is trying
to change all of that.
DesignYourDorm.com
is a web-based 3-D interior design tool for parents and college
students to customize their dorm room interiors. They can then purchase
the pieces of their room online. The company is hard at work creating
relationships with universities and colleges to get room dimensions and
arrange for appropriate shipping destinations.
Oh,
the relief! I vividly remember driving to college with my mom in my
dad's old station wagon, which was packed full of so much stuff that I
could barely see out the back window. Then we'd haul all of the stuff
up the elevator in multiple trips, carrying as much as we can as many
times as we needed to, until we were so exhausted that we'd collapse on
the bed (extra long!). One year we paid some guys $20 each to help us!
So
imagine not having to pack up all that extra stuff -- You could have
everything delivered right to your dorm. Plus, with their handy room
designer, you'll know just how much will actually fit in that tiny
room. I recall wondering where to put everything I had bought, thinking
the place was much larger than in person. Is Design Your Dorm going to
revolutionize the way college kids across the country decorate? I
certainly would have used it. Try it!
What do you think of this tool? Could this be the future of back-to-school shopping?
Designyourdorm.com is a great idea for those heading to college or those newly arrived there. They let you proactively design your dorm room with your roommates so that the dorm will fit all of your items.
If you have ever lived in a dorm room overloaded by an overanxious roommate you understand what I mean. The idea of having things planned so that, believe it or not, the freshman dorm room will look cool as opposed to a yard sale is a tool worth using. more...
Designyourdorm.com
is
a great idea for those heading to college or those newly arrived there.
They let you proactively design your dorm room with your roommates so
that the dorm will fit all of your items.
If you have ever lived in a dorm room overloaded by an overanxious
roommate you understand what I mean. The idea of having things planned
so that, believe it or not, the freshman dorm room will look cool as
opposed to a yard sale is a tool worth using.
DesignYourDorm.com launched in June and took former University of
Arizona students Taylor Robinson and Bryce Widelitz a year to create.
Moving to start the freshman year “is a really horrible process,” says
Robinson, who is now based in his home city of Los Angeles. “There’s so
much guesswork in moving into the dorm,” not to mention lugging
furniture into the space or renting a car to return items. With the
site’s renderings, students will have a better idea of what’s going to
fit, alleviating some stress and preventing some aching backs.
The site also includes some pre-designed “cool rooms” for
inspiration. And Robinson plans to add functions to facilitate roommate
collaboration when designing shared spaces and dividing costs, as well
as some personalized information about the residence halls and student
neighbors.
If you’re one of those youngsters that are about to enter a college life this coming school year, then you might want to check out the website called designyourdorm.com because they’ll be helping you with your plan of moving in to your new dorm. more...
If you’re one of those youngsters that
are about to enter a college life this coming school year, then you
might want to check out the website called designyourdorm.com because they’ll be helping you with your plan of moving in to your new dorm.
Moving in to another place is definitely not the easiest part of a
college life. You’ll have to transfer so many things to a smaller
space. Sometimes you will have to travel back and forth from your house
to your dorm just to return things that doesn’t fit in your room.
Designyourdorm.com
will help you fix this problem as they allow you to proactively design
your dorm room so that you’ll have an idea of the things that will fit
in your room while getting rid of those extra items.
Aside from this, it also allows you to design the room together with
your roommates making it easy for all of you to plan and move in your
things, and make your room look as cool as possible.
DYD has been featured in a number of foreign blogs, so we have compiled a list of the various sites that have written about us. Simply click on the icons and you will be taken to the corresponding article! more...
Moving into a dorm at college can be a difficult thing for most students because it’s probably the first time that you will be living away from home and will therefore have to arrange everything on your own in a completely different environment.
Additionally, most students living in dorms have to share the room with other students and therefore you need to carefully plan what each of the roommates should bring to how and how stuff has to be organized in that not-so-spacious dorm room. more...
Moving to College? Organize Your Future Dorm Room Without Other Roommates
Moving into a dorm at college can be a difficult thing for most
students because it’s probably the first time that you will be living
away from home and will therefore have to arrange everything on your
own in a completely different environment.
Additionally, most students living in dorms have to share the room
with other students and therefore you need to carefully plan what each
of the roommates should bring to how and how stuff has to be organized
in that not-so-spacious dorm room.
If you are also heading off to college and plan to live on-campus in one of the dorm rooms, you should check out DesignYourDorm.com.
This web service allows incoming freshmen and other college students to
view the interiors of their future dorm rooms on the web in 3D even
before they arrive on campus.
If you happen to attend one of the colleges that are listed on the
signup form, you can select your exact room and get a virtual model of
it right from the start. Or you can select a room style from their
selection of common dorm room layouts.
The site has exact dimensions for every dorm room (by room number)
at a handful of schools including USC, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA
and U of A, and general floor plans at almost every other school in the
US. If you are not attending a US college, you can still use the
service using one of the default templates.
DesignYourDorm allows you to collaborate with your future roommates
about stuff that should be in your dorm room. Once all the roommates
have an account, they can see what the other roommates have added to
the room and can add their own items to the room as well. This should
help prevent roommates from bringing duplicate items, and it can also
help them agree on what will be in the room before they even move in.
Everything that you add to your future college dorm room from books
to bed-sheets to electronics are added to your shopping cart. Through
an arrangement with Amazon, all of the items that you add to your dorm
can be directly purchased from the site. Then, instead of getting
everything sent to your home, you can simply have Amazon mail
everything right to your dorm so the stuff will be there when you
arrive.
If you are moving into a dorm or have a child moving into one, give
DesignYourDorm a try before moving – it just might make that first day
away a little easier!
This website would have been awesome when we were in college (assuming the internet existed back then). Anyhow, Design Your Dorm has a ton of great features for small space living using 3-D models from colleges across America... more...
This
website would have been awesome when we were in college (assuming the
internet existed back then). Anyhow, Design Your Dorm has a ton of
great features for small space living using 3-D models from colleges
across America...
Sign
up was quick and easy and we even located our alma mater in the long
list of available schools to choose from. The premise is
straightforward--first, pick your dorm room's layout from the available
models. You can move the furniture anywhere with the simple click of a
mouse. Our favorite part of course, was going shopping to pick out our
dorm room's decor. The last step is collaborating with your roomie
online (before you move in). That way you'll be less likely to bicker
over what goes where. We're also really digging the site's compatible blog. With post titles like "Avoid the Freshman 15: Exercises to do in your dorm" and "Utilize Your Room Space" students can make their home life the easy part of college.
At Penn, if the housing gods smile upon you, you will spend your freshman year in a spacious two-room Quad double replete with all the amenities your 18-year-old self could ever desire — a bay window, fireplace, mantle, hardwood floors, high ceilings, an awesome roommate, a kegerator. And while Hell Hill residents claim to love the women’s-prison-cum-coed-dormitory (big ups to Eero Saarinen, who also designed the St. Louis Arch!), many still yearn for air conditioning, floor space, and the aweso more...
Lofted Beds Are The New Black
At Penn, if the housing
gods smile upon you, you will spend your freshman year in a spacious
two-room Quad double replete with all the amenities your 18-year-old
self could ever desire — a bay window, fireplace, mantle, hardwood
floors, high ceilings, an awesome roommate, a kegerator. And while Hell Hill residents claim to love the women’s-prison-cum-coed-dormitory (big ups to Eero Saarinen, who also designed the St. Louis Arch!), many still yearn for air conditioning, floor space, and the awesomely collegiate look of the Quad.
But fear not Hillites present and future: UTB has unearthed
something that will make those lame Quad kids green with envy. Feast
your eyes on Design Your Dorm,
“a web-based 3-D interior design tool that allows students to customize
their dorm room interiors.” That’s right, simply select your college,
dorm, and room number, and a detailed 3-D model appears. SO. COOL. (And
so much easier to decipher than these diagrams, which can weirdly only be accessed via Internet Explorer.)
For reasons unbeknownst to us, the only Penn dorm available on the
site is Hill. This confuses us, but we’re hopeful more dorms will pop
up soon. For now, we leave you with Hill 301:
Actual size of Hill double. Wish we were kidding.
UPDATE: Design Your Dorm managing partner Bryce
Widelitz e-mailed us: “We are currently working with the UPenn and are
doing a “pilot test” starting with Hill College House. After the first
year, the university will decide whether or not they would like us to
do the rest of their halls.”
Moving into your college dorm is one of the most exciting times in your college life – I remember when I walked into mine last year….The small room already half filled with my numerous boxes of bulging junk, the sparse walls…you get the picture. Well, a new start-up called Design Your Dorm (also known as College Room Creator) is a web based 3D interior design tool that allows college students to customize their dorm room/residence hall room interiors.
more...
Moving into your college dorm is one of the most exciting times in your
college life – I remember when I walked into mine last year….The small
room already half filled with my numerous boxes of bulging junk, the
sparse walls…you get the picture.
Well, a new startup called Design Your Dorm (also known as College Room Creator)
is a web based 3D interior design tool that allows college students to
customize their dorm room/residence hall room interiors.
The site has built 3D virtual models of common dorm room layouts,
allowing new students to figure out what they’ll have room for long
before they ever set foot in their dorms. To help figure out the exact
room configuration, DesignYourDorm currently has a few hundred 3D
models of various common dorm room items, including electronics like TV
sets and Xbox 360s, furniture like beds and desks, and storage
containers that you can freely drag and drop into the room.
Along with the 3D designer, Design Your Dorm also has a store which
will allows you to purchase some of the goods you have decked your room
out with and also a highly useful checklist which you can print out and use to make moving in day a breeze.
To help them coordinate with new roommates and check things off the new-room list, Eller alum Bryce Widelitz (BSBA Finance ’08) and Taylor Robinson (Psychology and Business minor ’08) created a company called Design Your Dorm. From personal experience, they understand the stress that comes with moving into a new dorm room. Their company will help dorm-bound students have an easier move-in day. more...
When
it comes to moving away from home and into a dorm, there’s a lot for
incoming college freshmen to consider.
To help them coordinate with new roommates and check things off the
new-room list, Eller alum Bryce Widelitz (BSBA Finance ’08) and Taylor
Robinson (Psychology and Business minor ’08) created a company called
Design Your Dorm. From personal experience, they understand the stress
that comes with moving into a new dorm room. Their company will help
dorm-bound students have an easier move-in day.
Working with a web design firm, the two put together a website that
will help students decide what items they will need for their future
dorm room. “Our website, www.DesignYourDorm.com, allows incoming
freshman to view exact 3D replicas of their dorm rooms before they
arrive on campus. By clicking and dragging objects (bed sheets,
posters, laptops, etc.) they can design their rooms to their liking,”
says Widelitz. The website also connects multiple roommates to
safeguard against ordering duplicate items.
www.DesignYourDorm.com received positive feedback at the Association of
College Housing Officers International Conference and launched the
fully functional website in April. The next step for Robinson and
Widelitz will be to use their completed business plan to seek venture
capital from qualified private investors.
College students across the nation will be heading off to new dorm rooms next month - and many are packing eco-friendly essentials to make their living quarters greener. From organic cotton sheets and bamboo storage to water filtration systems and biodegradable trash bags, today's generation of college goers are doing their part to improve the planet. more...
Universities Take Initiative
Colleges
aren't leaving all the responsibility on their students. The
University of Pennsylvania offers energy-save light bulbs for students'
lamps and lighting, while others - including Drexel University - are
integrating low-flow showers and toilets into new dorm buildings.
A
number of colleges are teaming up with Design Your Dorm to make
decorating and furnishing even easier. Rather than waiting and
wondering until move in day, students can log onto the website and
select the layout of their dorm. The 3-D designer allows drag-and-drop
decorating to ensure a comfy room that isn't overcrowded and students
can collaborate with their new roomies to coordinate decor and avoid
duplicates.
Design Your Dorm
also offers a convenient online store with everything from furniture
and storage to electronics and cleaning supplies, including a new
addition of eco-friendly dorm products. Students can shop online,
place their items into the design layout, and have their purchases
shipped directly to their university in time for move in day -
convenience without lifting a finger!
Green Alternatives for College Living
What are today's college students doing to minimize their environmental impact on campus?
- Ditch the traditional backpack for a chic reusable tote bag.
- Save the quarters and opt for a bamboo drying rack instead.
- Lose the plastic bottles by starting the year with a trendy aluminum water bottle and a filtering pitcher.
- Clean up with natural cleaners - vinegar, baking soda, and citrus fruits instead of harsh and expensive chemicals.
- Go green in class with recycled with recycled paper and eco-safe polypropylene binders.
DesignYourDorm.com is a web-based 3-D interior design tool that helps college students to customize their dorm room interiors.
How DesignYourDorm Works ?
As a student, when you enter your school name, dormitory building and room number, the software will pull up a virtual room if it’s in the system. You can even enter your room dimensions into this system.
You can click and drag desired objects like posters, bed sheets, flat screen TVs, etc from the store to your 3-D room. This way you more...
Design and Accessorize Your College Dorm Room With 3D Tools and Virtual Items
DesignYourDorm.com is a web-based 3-D interior design tool that helps college students to customize their dorm room interiors.
How DesignYourDorm Works ?
As a student, when you enter your school name, dormitory building
and room number, the software will pull up a virtual room if it’s in
the system. You can even enter your room dimensions into this system.
You can click and drag desired objects like posters, bed sheets,
flat screen TVs, etc from the store to your 3-D room. This way you
quickly design your space to match your unique personality and needs.
Once you have the perfect space, “drag and drop” your dream room
into the shopping cart and purchase all the items you have selected.
You can also collaborate this design idea with your roommates.
Buy Products From Amazon
The site has teamed up with Amazon to provide real products to place
in the room which automatically gets compiled up into a shopping list.
Once satisfied with layouts, you can purchase items from that shopping
list and have them delivered on move-in day.
Care Packages Service for Parents
There is a special option called “care packages” which allows
parents to send gifts/care packages to their children. These packages
can be shipped directly from the store to the university.
DesignYourDorm.com service is free for universities; a number of
schools have already partnered with the site to sell
University-specific gear for your doom room and to provide room
assignments and dimensions to make it easier to customize your space.
DesignYourDorm Founders
This innovative service DesignYourDorm.com was co-founded by Bryce Widelitz and Taylor Robinson
College is a horrifying time in one's personal development. Aside from being "the best years of your life," those years are also those in which your expenditures outstrip your income by more than they ever will later (with any luck and ambition on your part, at least). They can also be some of your more strapped-for-time years and attention-deficit-overload years.
Here are a few tools we wish we'd had when we were still dorm-dwelling nobodies. Forward these links on to the collegiate folks in more...
Back to School: Apps Every College Student Should Try
College is a
horrifying time in one's personal development. Aside from being "the
best years of your life," those years are also those in which your
expenditures outstrip your income by more than they ever will later
(with any luck and ambition on your part, at least). They can also be
some of your more strapped-for-time years and
attention-deficit-overload years.
Here are a few tools we wish we'd had when we were still
dorm-dwelling nobodies. Forward these links on to the collegiate folks
in your life, and add your own favorites to the list. Together, we can
rid the world of dropped classes and "ramen starvation."
Situate Yourself
DesignYourDorm is a
new-this-year app that allows college students to design their dorm
room interiors in 3D and purchase their decor selections online. Not
only can students often choose their exact room dimensions and layout
from the DYD database and collaborate with dormmates to get rooms
furnished based on thorough checklists; parents can also send care
packages from a gallery that calls to mind an edible version of
1800Flowers.
Alumni Bryce Widelitz, ’00, and Taylor Robinson, ’00, are true examples of The Willows’ entrepreneurial spirit. While in their sophomore year at the University of Arizona, Taylor and Bryce wondered what they would do after graduation. One sleepless night of brainstorming, and almost three years of hard work later, Taylor and Bryce realized they had a solid idea to solve one of the major issues that college students encounter: how to work with their college roommates to furnish their dorms rooms. more...
From their personal experience, Taylor and Bryce realized that moving
into a college dorm can be a very stressful process. Incoming students
have no idea what their dorm room will look like, what items will fit
in their room, and what their roommates will be like. Students have to
figure out all of this upon arriving to school on move-in day. With the
help of Bryce’s father, Ken, and Taylor’s mother, Cheryl, Bryce and
Taylor formed a company that revolutionizes the way incoming college
freshman can make the transition to college life.
Working with their fabulous web development team, Moncur Associates,
Bryce and Taylor have developed a website that overcomes all of these
obstacles. The company’s website, www.DesignYourDorm.com, allows
incoming college freshmen to view an exact 3-D replica of their dorm
room prior to entering college, and by clicking and dragging objects
(bed sheets, posters, lap-tops, etc.) they can design their room to
their liking. It also has the capability of allowing roommates to
collaborate – before school starts – on their room design, with
intelligent programming that identifies the products students’
roommates have already purchased. This safeguards against the ordering
of multiple items, and allows students to establish a relationship with
their roommate prior to arriving at school.
Taylor and Bryce attended the ACUHO-I (Association of College Housing
Officers International) conference in June, 2008 where they received
positive feedback and decided to go forward with their business model.
The website currently has a demo that gives users an idea of how the
room design tool works. The official launch of the fully functional
website is planned for April 2009, and will target students entering
college in the 2009-10 academic year.
Next steps for Taylor and Bryce include submitting their completed
business plan in order to raise venture capital from qualified private
investors. As members of one of the first graduating classes from The
Willows, we are so proud of what they have achieved, and so proud to
share it with the rest of The Willows community!
